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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24714868">Elindra Trinket</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan'>EllanaSan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Basically, Elindra Trinket's life story, Gen, OCs are NOT up for grabs, do not mean to sound harsh, they won't let put a smiley, this is a smiley face haha</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:35:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,331</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24714868</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“If the sheep are wealthy, Father, I will happily join the flock.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haymitch Abernathy/Effie Trinket, Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Elindra Trinket</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisoomes/gifts">jisoomes</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <b>Happy Birthday to Jisoomes/Rvsirene! </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is a birthday gift because she loves my OC for Effie’s mother so I did something… Well, I tried to do something short that obviously ended up being huge XD Anyway, there is hayffie in there but it is very light so I understand if you don’t want to read a 11K one shot about what’s basically an original character, don’t worry haha! </p>
<p>It was really fun to write from Elindra’s pov though. Effie resents her for so much stuff (and she’s certainly toxic and abusive on a lot of levels) but, from her point of view, I realized there was stuff Effie was angry about that actually made a lot of sense from Elindra’s side… So it was an eye opener for me too! Who knew!<br/>Also, this Elindra backstory existed long before TBOSAS came out but I’m happy to see I wasn’t totally off mark on a lot of points. There is NO SPOILERS for that book but you might recognize a couple of names flying around if you squint. </p>
<p>This is basically my default verse, my default background story for Effie. If you read my os regularly, you will probably recognize a few familiar OCs in there.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <b>(My OCs are not up for grab so don’t use them, thank you!)</b></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>1.</p><hr/>
<p>The powder in the compact had caked.</p>
<p><em>Cheap</em>. Like everything else in the small apartment Elindra shared with her father.</p>
<p>She crushed the hardened clumps of powder with controlled anger. From time to time, she glanced at the mirror mounted on the dressing table.</p>
<p>The dressing table used to belong to her paternal grandmother – the only reward to show for all those useless hours wasted trying to soften the old cow by being the perfect dutiful granddaughter; the money she had been after had been left to her uncle and cousins, the <em>respectable </em>members of the Alderman family – and it was easily the best piece of furniture in the whole apartment. It looked out of place with its ivory color and the golden trims compared to the plain decor. Just like <em>she</em> did.</p>
<p>Her father insisted she looked like her mother but she couldn’t see it. She looked at the framed picture on the wall sometimes, an old slightly grainy picture of her parents on their wedding day, she studied her mother’s features because she couldn’t really remember them and failed to see the similarities that were so glaring to him. Her mother had been pretty enough, certainly, <em>lovely</em> even, with a rosy complexion and reddish blond hair… But on that picture, one of the few they owned, with the crown of white flowers in her hair and the simple wedding gown, she mostly looked <em>District</em>.</p>
<p>No wonder the Aldermans had wanted better for their youngest son. No wonder they had preferred to cut him off rather than face the scandal of Timotheo marrying the daughter of a nobody from District Two. It didn’t matter that Alice had been born in the Capitol, the <em>District</em> stench clung to her mother’s family.</p>
<p>Forbidding Capitol-District marriage had been the first law young President Snow had implanted after being elected. At sixteen, Elindra approved all heartedly. Capitol and District didn’t mix. Her mother hadn’t had the stomach for life in the city and it had killed her early.</p>
<p>And what had Timotheo to show for his stubbornness in marrying for love? A small apartment in a working class neighborhood, far away from the spacious mansions of his childhood. If he had been less of an idiot, if he had married in his circle, he might have become a famous violinist – Elindra could admit he certainly had the talent for it – instead he made only enough with his lessons to allow them to live comfortably. If by <em>comfortably </em>you understood covering rent, utilities and groceries.</p>
<p>No room for treats in there.</p>
<p>He had suggested Elindra got a job if she wanted to be able to afford more make-up and dresses and she had taken that to heart. Of course, he had meant giving music lessons or something equally boring – she <em>hated </em>music, not that she had ever had a choice about learning with a violinist for a father and a pianist for a mother – but she had started going to auditions instead.</p>
<p>She had had a few hits so far but it was hard to tell which producers were actually interested and which ones simply wanted to get her naked…</p>
<p>There was a knock on her door and it was pushed opened before she could say anything. Another thing she <em>hated: </em>her father’s lack of decorum.</p>
<p>Her grandmother, harpy than she had been, had taught her a lot about proper behavior. And she abode by it.</p>
<p>If she ever wanted to get out of the gutter, she would need to behave like a lady.</p>
<p>“Lin, what do you want for dinner?” her father asked, in that same awkward tone he had been using around her for a couple of years. As if he didn’t know how to talk to her anymore, as if it was really entirely <em>unfathomable</em> to him that she might want <em>more</em> than the life he was offering her. As if he didn’t realize that she was made for greater things.</p>
<p>“I am not eating here.” she replied, making an effort to articulate each word clearly, to put the same disdainful hint in every syllable her grandmother used to. “I am going out tonight.”</p>
<p>“You’ve been out every night this week.” Timotheo protested, stepping inside her room without being invited. He was four steps in when he finally caught sight of her pinned up hairdo. “Your lovely hair! What did you…”</p>
<p>“It is <em>fashion</em>, Father.” she cut him off, trying not to notice how he flinched at that word. <em>Father</em>. In another life, before she realized just how poor and unhappy they were, before her mother was dead and she had started to try and seduce his family into giving her the money that should have gone to her father, she used to call him <em>Dad</em>. How <em>unrefined</em>.</p>
<p>“It’s ugly.” he commented flatly.</p>
<p>She flinched.</p>
<p>She checked her reflection in the mirror, aggressively applying the foundation powder to her skin – or <em>trying</em>, at least, because it wasn’t cooperating. She had dyed her blond hair a pale sky blue that very afternoon and it had asked her <em>a lot </em>of effort. She couldn’t afford a hairdresser or even a decent brand of dye. She had had to improvise.</p>
<p>“Everyone in the city has colorful hair nowadays.” she retorted. “It is simply how it is.”</p>
<p>“Everyone in the city is also raving about the Games.” Timotheo snapped. “I thought I raised you better than following the sheep.”</p>
<p>She <em>barely </em>refrained from rolling her eyes.</p>
<p>How her father loathed the Games… Even more since all the new exciting features had been implemented.</p>
<p>Elindra couldn’t say she cared one way or another.</p>
<p>“If the sheep are wealthy, Father, I will happily join the flock.” she deadpanned.</p>
<p>He shot her a funny look, shook his head and then departed. Seconds later, she heard the sad lament of a violin.</p>
<p>She hated the sound of violin.</p>
<p>She hated everything about this place.</p>
<p>But she would get out, she promised her reflection in the mirror, she <em>would</em>.</p>
<p>And for now…</p>
<p>Well…</p>
<p><em>Chin up, eyes bright, smile on</em>.</p><hr/>
<p>2</p><hr/>
<p>Elindra smiled at the little girl as she signed the glossy picture of herself and even patted her head for good measure, exclaiming out loud how delightful the child was. The press ate it up to the point she was drowned in flashes.</p>
<p>Privately, she thought the little girl would grow up to be an ugly woman and that she would be very glad never to have one of those small monster.</p>
<p>When they were done taking her picture – were they <em>ever</em> done taking her picture, though? – she left the red carpet for the inside of the hotel where the private party was taking place. She kept the smile firmly on lips, nodded left and right in greetings…</p>
<p>Being a famous movie star was exhausting.</p>
<p>Lucrative, although not as much as she had hoped, but exhausting.</p>
<p>She mingled for a while, flirted and laughed the expected amount, and only smiled a touch more genuinely when she felt a familiar hand slide to the small of her back. Low enough to be proprietary. She allowed it but didn’t acknowledge the young man at once. It wouldn’t do to look eager now, would it?</p>
<p>Tadius Trinket was jealous of her attention though and, before long, he rather rudely dragged her to the dancefloor. She looked at him for the first time, then, once she was enclosed in his arms.</p>
<p>She had been officially dating him for six months, which puzzled a lot of people. She was very famous, after all, she could have had anyone she wanted. Any of the sons of secretaries of states or even any of the wealthy unemployed youths who lazed around wasting their family’s money all day long, secure in the knowledge it would never run short.</p>
<p>But she had chosen <em>Tadius Trinket</em>.</p>
<p>He wasn’t the handsomest man she had ever met, although that was part of the appeal. Too handsome and he would have had grapes of girls hanging from his arms, besides handsome men had too much confidence. The first time she had paid him any sort of attention, he had beamed, not used to being singled out by a girl like her. And he was attractive enough. He was a lean man with sharp aristocratic features that she found appealing enough that she didn’t loathe the idea of having to look at them for the rest of her life. He was also <em>filthily</em> wealthy – which, admittedly, made him gorgeous in her eyes. </p>
<p>And the best thing?</p>
<p>Unlike the sons of secretaries of states or the upper class youths who would worship her for a while and then break up with her, <em>he</em> would end up <em>marrying</em> her. He was that sort of men. The sort with <em>values</em>.</p>
<p>The Trinkets were not part of the old families. They had made their money in trade and were steadily rising in the Capitol social circles. It wasn’t as good a pedigree as marrying a Heavensbee or a Creed but they could get there with time and patience.</p>
<p>His parents didn’t like her, of course, but that was to be expected. His father had worked hard to get his company to become one of the most successful in the Capitol, his mother worked hard at making the elite forget they were new money… Elindra, her actress career, and her questionable origins despite the Alderman name, might put a dent in their effort.</p>
<p>But Tadius loved her and he would propose anyway, she was making sure of that. She would also make sure that, unlike her own father, he wouldn’t get disowned for it.</p>
<p>It wouldn’t be <em>that</em> hard, really. </p>
<p>She <em>was </em>an excellent actress. All she had to do was convince the mother that she was head over heels for her son…</p>
<p>“I have something for you.” Tadius told her, the first words they had exchanged that night.</p>
<p>Then again, they weren’t unusual.</p>
<p>Their relationship consisted mostly of Tadius giving her gifts.</p>
<p>“Is it expensive?” She pouted with just enough of a hint of a smile to let him know she was joking – although she <em>wasn’t</em>.</p>
<p>He gave her a fond look.</p>
<p>Sometimes, she was scared he knew exactly when she was pretending not to pretend.</p>
<p>“It is big.” he hinted.</p>
<p>She lifted her eyebrows, not quite needing to force the smile anymore. Still, she planted a crossed expression on her face. “Do not be <em>crude</em>. You know I <em>hate</em> it.”</p>
<p>A spark of mirth danced in his eyes. They were his best features: a grayish blue. “It is also sparkly, very pricey, will piss off my parents and will make me the happiest man in Panem.”</p>
<p>Her heart missed a beat.</p>
<p>She had expected this, of course. She had worked <em>hard </em>for this. Becoming famous, becoming an actress had always been only a mean to an end. She had seen too many <em>stars </em>disappear after only a few months. Fame was fickle. A good marriage with a large amount of money would last years. She had expected it but not so soon.</p>
<p>She wouldn’t say yes immediately.</p>
<p>She would let him convince her to accept him, making him grateful for her answer.</p>
<p>She would list all the obstacles so that he would be determined to break through them and think it was his own idea.</p>
<p>But, by the end of the night, she would be engaged. </p>
<p>And she would not regret it.</p>
<p><em>Elindra Alderman</em> didn’t sound quite as good as <em>Elindra Trinket</em>.</p><hr/>
<p>3</p><hr/>
<p>“You do realize this is why we have a nanny, dear.” Elindra pointed out on the nursery’s threshold.</p>
<p>She didn’t <em>lean </em>against the doorframe – how commonplace – but she wasn’t standing as straight as a lady should either. Concessions had to be made, though, it was the middle of the night and she had already spent far too long applying some light make-up on her face and making sure her hair looked good.</p>
<p>One should <em>always</em> look her best for one’s husband, after all.</p>
<p>“And we did say we would let her cry for now on. She needs to learn how to sleep at night.” she reminded him. </p>
<p>Tadius shot her a guilty glance that didn’t last long. When he looked down at the baby in his arms, he looked just how enamored and dumbfounded as he had ever since the midwife had placed his daughter in his arm.   </p>
<p>Truth be told, she understood the feeling.</p>
<p>She was a little enamored and dumbfounded by Lyssandra too.</p>
<p>It had taken her by surprise, that feeling. She knew what love was, of course. She loved her father, after all, even if they had their disagreements and he had refused to move when she had offered to purchase a very comfortable house for him or to get him into the Capitol’s orchestra… Timotheo didn’t want to touch her husband’s money, which was ridiculous because it was also <em>her </em>money.</p>
<p>She had <em>certainly</em> pushed Tadius enough in the last five years. Thanks to her, he had become more active in his father’s company and, if everything went according to her plans, she would have him convinced he was more than ready to take over the older Trinket within a year. Then, she would finally <em>be</em> the one the upper class spouses seek favors from and she wouldn’t have to surf in her mother-in-law’s wake anymore – or pretend she even <em>liked</em> the woman.</p>
<p>She <em>did</em> love her father despite everything. And she <em>did</em> love Tadius too in her way. She hadn’t expected <em>that</em> development but five years of marriage to a good man could do that, she supposed. They were well suited, they respected each other and they had their fun.</p>
<p>But what she felt for Lyssa… It knew no comparisons.</p>
<p>She hadn’t been sold on getting pregnant but, per the marriage contract, she was obligated to produce a minimum of two heirs for Tadius. She had been resolute to hate the experience and watch her figure but feeling the baby quickening inside her… It had made her <em>soft</em>.</p>
<p>She wasn’t sure she liked <em>that</em>.</p>
<p>“She is so perfect…” he whispered.</p>
<p>He hadn’t bothered turning on the lights so she didn’t either; the curtains were open and they could see well enough with the city night’s lights. She joined him in the nursery, allowing herself a moment of weakness by leaning against his side, peering at the admittedly perfect baby in his arms.</p>
<p>“We will give her the world.” she vowed.</p>
<p>She would give her daughter everything her own mother hadn’t given her: knowledge of how to navigate the snakes pit that was this city, security, money, a proper education, a position… She had already started prospecting for a potential husband. The Heavensbees had a six year-old boy that might suit nicely eventually and the Flavershyms had a one year-old…</p>
<p>“If that’s what she wants.” Tadius chuckled.</p>
<p>“What she wants is irrelevant.” she dismissed. “Girls often want foolish things.”</p>
<p>Her husband frowned at her.</p>
<p>She pretended she didn’t see.</p><hr/>
<p>4</p><hr/>
<p>“You are turning her into a doll.” Tadius remarked in that passive-aggressive tone that was the new norm between them.</p>
<p>Elindra didn’t roll her eyes because ladies didn’t roll their eyes.</p>
<p>She glanced at Lyssa, glad to find the almost three year-old still sitting at her small table, practicing her tea pouring for the delicate china dolls. It was a delightful picture. Her daughter was wearing the same kind of frilly dress the dolls were, her glossy blond hair held back by a red ribbon… She looked <em>perfectly</em> happy to her.</p>
<p>She was tired of listening to that refrain.</p>
<p>Were her father and Tadius sharing notes on their respective recriminations? What was so terrible about her enrolling Lyssandra in beauty pageants? All the other upper class women did it. That was how connections were made. And Lyssa was <em>such</em> a beautiful child. She always won <em>everything</em>. And she couldn’t even properly <em>talk</em> yet. Imagine what would happen once she would be over the nonsense phase.</p>
<p>“How is that former secretary of yours?” she retorted.</p>
<p>Tadius pursed his lips tight, like he always did when he tried to get his temper under control. Tadius, and she was grateful for it, never shouted. She <em>abhorred</em> scenes.</p>
<p>If possible, he lowered his voice even more. “Lin…”</p>
<p>“Do <em>not</em> call me that.” she snapped. She despised the nickname. It was the one her parents had  given her and allowing him to use it in the past had been a <em>dreadful</em> mistake. <em>Lin </em>was as unsophisticated as it went. Lin was a poor child who had to contend with cheap toys and had to listen to the depressing sound of violin all day long.</p>
<p>She was not <em>Lin</em> anymore.</p>
<p>“You made it clear you did not want me in your bed any longer.” he reminded her. “You <em>cannot</em> expect me to remain celibate.”</p>
<p>“<em>You</em> made it <em>very</em> clear you did <em>not</em> want to come into my bed anymore.” she hissed.</p>
<p>“It was one year ago.” he sighed.</p>
<p>“I have a long memory.” she replied.</p>
<p>“Yes, like an elephant.” he deadpanned.</p>
<p>She <em>really</em> glared at him then.</p>
<p>She had <em>struggled</em> to lose the weight she had gotten during her pregnancy, to become beautiful again. She had turned to plastic surgery for the first time and she had loved it so much she had gone back twice after that. She had had her breasts redone, her nose reshaped, the fat sucked out of her body… It was like magic.</p>
<p>And Tadius had taken objections to that. He had claimed he liked her better before, that she didn’t look like the girl he had fallen in love with anymore… <em>Tough luck</em>.</p>
<p>Marriage wasn’t about love or sex, she had told him, it was about partnership. And it was past time they stopped sharing a room.</p>
<p>Sharing a room was <em>District</em>.</p>
<p>In the Capitol’s upper class circles, married people <em>didn’t</em> share a room. They did the <em>civilized</em> thing and had their own respective bedrooms.</p>
<p>He placed a tentative hand at the small of her back. “Can we stop this petty war? You are beautiful. You are <em>always</em> beautiful. I miss how things used to be.” It mollified her a little and she might have caved and leaned into him if he hadn’t added. “Please, Lin, I miss you.”</p>
<p>Well, if he missed <em>Lin</em>, they had a problem. <em>Lin</em> didn’t exist anymore. </p>
<p>“I am certainly not against putting an end to the pointless arguments.” she declared.</p>
<p>He looked tentatively hopeful and the smile he flashed her was genuine if a little cautious. They watched Lyssandra play for a while and she had to bite down on her bottom lip once or twice to stop herself from reminding their daughter that she shouldn’t bang her spoon on the cup like that but <em>delicately</em> stir her tea – pretend or not. Tadius wouldn’t be happy with that remark and she had to pick her battles.</p>
<p>When his arms slid around her waist, she allowed it, feeling a yearning for that feeling of contentment she hadn’t found in so long. It used to make her happy. Being in Tadius arms, naked late at night, laughing about stupid things, secure in the knowledge he would go to the moon and back for her – or maybe not because he was too practical for that but if she had asked for the moon, he would have pulled out his checkbook and found someone to get it for her…</p>
<p>Lately, Lyssandra was the only thing they shared.</p>
<p>“I think we should get another one.” he whispered in her ear.</p>
<p>She froze, her body tensing.</p>
<p>So <em>that</em> was why he was cozying up to her…</p>
<p>She couldn’t refuse.</p>
<p>It was in their marriage contract, she owed him two.</p>
<p>She stepped out of his arms, jutting her chin up. “Find a surrogate, then.”</p>
<p>She had to give him a child, nothing said she had to <em>carry </em>it.</p><hr/><ol>
<li><hr/></li>
</ol>
<p>If Tadius had thought a pregnancy would fix their marriage, he was mistaken.</p>
<p>He took an interest in the young surrogate at first – a <em>Capitol</em>, she had insisted, no matter the fact that some people used District girls because they were cheaper – checking on her regularly, touching her stomach to feel the quickening life growing there… Elindra showed her zero interest once she was certain her husband didn’t intend to get her in bed – it was one thing for him to have discreet affairs, it was entirely another for him to sleep with the help.</p>
<p>There were agencies for that sort of things, of course, rules in place to make sure the women paid to carry respectable Capitol families’ children didn’t sleep around before or during the pregnancy – sometimes even after if the girl planned to take another contract right away. There was good money to be made like that. Three babies and you were wealthy enough to afford a comfortable apartment and find a better job.</p>
<p>On dark nights, when gloomy thoughts plagued her, Elindra thought she might have ended up like that if she had been less determined to make something out of herself. A human incubator to hire.</p>
<p>Tadius grew bored of acting the dutiful expecting father by the fourth month.</p>
<p>She preferred to focus on Lyssandra and her beauty pageants anyway.</p>
<p>When the surrogate went into labor, they were attending a charity ball at the Presidential Mansion – and it had taken a <em>consequent </em>donation to be invited. There was no way they would miss the event, not when it included being introduced to President Snow. She had met his wife before, naturally – a sickly pale thing that she didn’t think would survive very long – but she had never met the man himself.</p>
<p>By the time the event was done and they headed to the surrogates facility, their second daughter had been born for hours.</p>
<p>“Euphemia.” Tadius told the nurse who asked for a name, without even consulting her on the matter.</p>
<p>They hadn’t talked names.</p>
<p>They didn’t talk about anything anymore.</p>
<p>If he was disappointed the baby was not a boy, it didn’t show. He looked every bit as doting with the baby as he had been with Lyssandra. It was almost half an hour before he released their daughter to her and she could hold her for the first time. He also wasted no time leaving the room, muttering a vague excuse about calling the car to take them all home.</p>
<p>“Euphemia.” she whispered at the baby, her face softening a little when she realized their daughter had her eyes. It was his mother’s name and, given how much she despised the woman… – secretly, yes, but she didn’t think Tadius was unaware, she thought he had believed her be considerate by pretending to like her in the beginning, now… Now he probably knew better. “Your father probably means to irk me by naming you after your grandmother but the joke is on <em>him</em>. It is a <em>perfectly</em> respectable Capitol name. It will serves you right. It means outspoken. There are worse traits.”</p>
<p>For a while after they brought the baby home, she wondered if something was wrong with her. She didn’t feel the same bottomless pit of love she had instantly felt for Lyssa. She wondered if it was because she hadn’t carried her but deep down she knew it was because she hadn’t really <em>wanted</em> her.</p>
<p>That made her feel so <em>guilty</em>, though…</p>
<p>She held the baby for hours afterwards, rocking her against her heart and whispering in her ear that she loved her again and again… She <em>did </em>love her. She <em>did</em>. She ought to. She was her mother. That girl was <em>hers</em>. </p>
<p>Tadius had probably meant for that baby to save their marriage but it was a failure of epic proportions.</p>
<p>The only one who really seemed entirely happy was Lyssa.</p>
<p>She was over the moon at having a baby sister and took her role very seriously.</p><hr/><ol>
<li><hr/></li>
</ol>
<p>“You are putting ideas in her head and I wish you to <em>stop</em>.” Elindra snapped.</p>
<p>Timotheo Alderman’s scolding look had long stopped having any effect on her and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, absolutely unmoved by her father’s disapproving attitude. They were standing in her house’s entrance hall and she was aware that the maids were lurking, aware too that the two girls she had just sent scampering upstairs were probably huddled against the banister over her head to better listen to the conversation…</p>
<p>The eight and the eleven years-old were thick as thieves. Euphemia idolized her older sister. And with reasons. Lyssandra was easily the most beautiful child in the Capitol, if not in Panem. Everyone agreed on that. She was sweet-tempered, well-behaved, beautiful and she had opened many doors to Elindra because all the mothers of the <em>elite</em> were aware that in a few years the girl would be on the market for a husband that could be their son.</p>
<p>Lyssa was perfect.</p>
<p>But <em>Effie</em>…</p>
<p>“Maybe you’re not putting <em>enough</em> ideas in her head. Has <em>that</em> ever occurred to you?” her father retorted. “Maybe she could be more than another doll on a shelf for you to play with when it suits your fancy! Your husband, at least…”</p>
<p>Her husband had, at first, entertained the ridiculous though that Effie – not being a boy – might still take over the company one day, if she had any inclination for business. Elindra had set him straight and not only because it sounded hazardous.</p>
<p>“The girl is <em>not</em> clever, Father.” she hissed.</p>
<p>There was a muffled gasp upstairs, followed by Lyssa’s indecipherable whispers. She heard the sound of footsteps retreating toward the bedrooms. Despite herself, her mouth twisted in annoyance. She hadn’t meant for Euphemia to hear that. She hadn’t meant to hurt her. She didn’t want <em>anything</em> to hurt her daughters.</p>
<p>But the Capitol was a cruel place and they both needed to learn how to play the game. Lyssa was such a natural at it. She would find her place and be happy. Effie… Effie was willful and stubborn and insisting on irking her at every turn.</p>
<p>She never listened. That was why the best the girl could do was come second at every pageants she had entered her in.  </p>
<p>And also why she would never become the heir Tadius wanted. The girl was curious and she was quick but she didn’t have the kind of <em>smart</em> that would make her successful. No, it was much safer to rely on her beauty, even if it paled compared to her sister’s, to get her a good match that would see her financially secure.</p>
<p>Timotheo was fuming. “That girl has more brains in her head than you <em>ever</em> did.”</p>
<p>It hurt, of course. It was designed to.</p>
<p>Ever since the girls had been born, she and her father had been openly at odds. Even more than before. He seemed to find it his responsibility to encourage the girls to misbehave by taking them to the park and tell them to run and play with children whose parents she didn’t know or by telling them ridiculous fairytales they should know better than to believe in. She didn’t like when he told them about their grandmother either. She didn’t like the reminder that she had not been born to the life she now lived.</p>
<p>“Just stop buying her those books, will you?” she insisted.</p>
<p>Effie’s interests were wide and diverse when all Elindra wanted was for her to <em>focus </em>on important things like her speech for her next pageant, her ballet and etiquette lessons and, more generally, to learn how to behave like someone of their social standing should. The girl’s interest in architecture and old ruins and what not was <em>ridiculous</em>.</p>
<p>Timotheo didn’t stop buying her books.</p>
<p>He didn’t stop giving her violin lessons either.</p>
<p>And, of course, unlike her other activities, that one Euphemia practiced <em>diligently</em>.</p>
<p>Oh, how Elindra <em>hated</em> the sound of violin…</p><hr/>
<p>7</p><hr/>
<p>Elindra was only interested in the Games in so far as they allowed her to throw parties and further show the world that the Trinkets had the means to sponsor tributes. The Games showcased who, in the city, were the important players.</p>
<p>Did she care about the violence, the shocking plot twists, the betrayals, the alliance or the glory? <em>Not one bit. </em></p>
<p>There was enough of that in her circle of friends.</p>
<p>Still, the Quell was a <em>huge</em> thing. The Capitol had been living for it for months before the Reaping and all the official events were booked, the Square was packed, the City Circle full of people…</p>
<p>With the double of tributes, everyone was arguing about who to sponsor and it had taken a lot of deliberation for the Trinkets to settle on the second girl from One. Her name was Nya and she looked like how a killing machine ought to look. Besides, with her dark skin and her intricate little braids, she was beautiful enough that Elindra didn’t mind having to look at her.</p>
<p>Most of the other tributes looked like dirty urchins. The girl looked like a warrior queen compared to them.</p>
<p>Effie, naturally, had to be contrary and decided on the spot during the interviews – and a room full of people – that <em>she</em> would sponsor the second boy from Twelve. He had roguish charm, Elindra supposed, but nothing else. And he was insolent, which she could not tolerate.</p>
<p>She expected him to die during the bloodbath but, as if to personally aggravate her since Euphemia couldn’t stop talking about him, he survived the first few days.</p>
<p>She was <em>furious</em> when she learned Timotheo had helped Euphemia bet on him.</p>
<p>She was <em>even more</em> furious when the boy won over <em>her</em> chosen tribute. That boy <em>existed </em>to <em>spite</em> her.</p>
<p>Effie was over the moon.</p>
<p>Lyssa humored her, not having one mean bone in her body, happy to see her sister so merry.</p>
<p>Tadius chose not to be a sore loser and offered a rare family outing to go get ice cream – which delighted the girls.</p>
<p>Elindra protested because <em>ice cream, </em>really <em>– </em>the girls needed to watch their figures, they wouldn’t win any pageants by becoming fat and Effie was already too chubby for her tastes – but she was outnumbered and forced to tag along.</p>
<p>Still, it annoyed her how Euphemia kept rambling about the new victor with her eyes full of stars.</p>
<p>“<em>Attitude</em>, Euphemia, this is <em>unseemly</em>. Would you get so excited over a dirty scaly mutt full of fleas and probably rabid?” she snapped when she couldn’t bear it anymore – they had not even made it to the ice cream parlor, yet. “That is what that Abernathy boy is. That is what they <em>all</em> are. District people…” She wrinkled her nose. “They are <em>not </em>like us.”</p>
<p>Tadius shot her a look but Effie was properly subdued now. Behaving <em>at last</em>.</p>
<p>Or so she thought because, just as they were nearing the ice cream shop, she heard the girl whisper to Lyssa. “I do <em>not</em> care what she says, I <em>will</em> marry Haymitch Abernathy one day.”</p>
<p>It was as unladylike as it went but Elindra rolled her eyes anyway.</p><hr/>
<p>8</p><hr/>
<p>She could hear Effie sobbing from her own bedroom and it was giving her a headache.</p>
<p>Elindra sat at her dressing table, the same dressing table her grandmother had left her, and stared at her reflection. Not unlike the table with its faded golden trims and passed ivory color, the face in the mirror had aged. There were no lines because she had those taken care of but without the make-up, without the wig on her head…</p>
<p>“Darling.”</p>
<p>She glanced at her husband in the mirror. He was standing on the threshold, clearly ill-at-ease, in his new black suit. His navy blue dyed hair didn’t quite suit the color and he was growing a little thin on the crown of his head. He was growing old too. They were all growing old.</p>
<p>It was hard to think the girls were twelve and fifteen already.</p>
<p>Still, she made a note to book an appointment for hair grafts for him. It was never too early to start.</p>
<p>“We need to leave in fifteen minutes.” Tadius said quietly. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t move and he hesitantly walked inside her bedroom – a first in at least a decade – quietly closing the door behind him. “I thought you would be ready.”</p>
<p>She should be ready, shouldn’t she? She had ordered the girls to do just that an hour and a half earlier and she had told Lyssa, specifically, to make sure Euphemia was appropriately dressed.</p>
<p>She had gone to her room with the express intention of getting ready herself.</p>
<p>But it was so surreal to sit there and think she was about to attend her father’s funeral.</p>
<p>He had been sick and she could have helped if he had told her. But she hadn’t known until it was too late because he had always been so careful to look his best for the girls and because he hadn’t wanted her money. Or because she hadn’t taken the time to really talk to him in…</p>
<p>“Darling.” Tadius said again, the word devoid of warmth because it was just an afterthought nowadays, a moniker of pretend affection that society expected. He walked even closer, placed his hands on her shoulders after a moment of hesitation, smoothed the creases on her silk dressing-gown.</p>
<p>“I do not remember my mother’s funeral.” she whispered.</p>
<p>She had forgotten most of that period of her life, she realized. Easier to.</p>
<p>Not that it mattered.</p>
<p>She had been to <em>plenty</em> of funerals since then. Tadius’ father ten years earlier. His mother four years past. She knew what to expect. She knew, most of all, there would be <em>people</em> and she would have to keep a calm collected façade. Show some grief but not too much.</p>
<p>“Lin…” he sighed.</p>
<p>That nickname was an electroshock.</p>
<p>She didn’t remember the last time anyone had called her that. She was <em>darling </em>or <em>Elindra </em>to Tadius and her father… Her father had only been calling her Elindra for years now, as per her request. It came back from the past to haunt her, that nickname.</p>
<p>She blinked and started reaching for the compact with her foundation powder, applying a generous layer, horrified to realize her face was bare in front of her husband for the first time in forever. His hands squeezed her shoulders gently, kneading the knots away.</p>
<p>“Nobody expects you to be perfect today, you know.” he remarked. “It is alright if you want to cry or…”</p>
<p>“One should <em>always</em> be perfect, dear.” she interrupted, quickly doing her make-up. “Would you keep an eye on Effie, today? I know she is <em>devastated</em> but such public displays of emotions are <em>unseemly</em>.”</p>
<p>“Unseemly but perhaps healthy.” he snorted, a bit bitterly.</p>
<p>He had long deferred to her on the matter of the girls’ education. She had made it clear it was best. He was more suited to business than to fatherhood anyway.</p>
<p>His hands left her shoulders and she felt small and alone all of a sudden.</p>
<p>He was halfway across the room when she called his name. It sounded a little frightened. “Tadius.”</p>
<p>He stopped and looked back at her, eyebrows raised in question.  </p>
<p>She wanted to ask him to hold her. To hold her and never let go and promise everything would be alright.</p>
<p>But that was the frightened girl inside her talking.</p>
<p>That would be weakness.</p>
<p>It didn’t matter that it would happen behind closed doors.</p>
<p>He would know.</p>
<p>And she would know.</p>
<p>And she was stronger than that.</p>
<p>“Thank you.” she offered instead.</p>
<p>He frowned a little but his mouth stretched into a small smile. “Of course. I am here if you need anything.”</p>
<p>She needed <em>everything. </em></p>
<p>But there was more urgent.</p>
<p>Like hiding from the whole world that she was hurting.</p>
<p>She did a much better job at that than Euphemia did.</p>
<p><em>Eyes bright, chin up, smile on</em>, she kept reminded the child but it didn’t matter.</p>
<p>The girl sobbed and sniffed and generally made a spectacle of herself until she couldn’t bear it anymore and banished her to her room right in the middle of the wake. Lyssa sneaked away not long after and Elindra allowed it because she knew the teenager would do a much better job at comforting her sister than she would.</p>
<p>She didn’t know how to talk to Effie.</p>
<p>Lyssa was easily satisfied, easily placated, Effie… Effie <em>wasn’t</em>.</p>
<p>Still, when two golden tickets to the Quell’s Tour arrived in the post, a month later, ordered by Timotheo before his death as a gift to Euphemia, she allowed her to go to all the events under Lyssa’s watch.</p>
<p>Elindra still thought it was a shame Twelve’s boy had won.</p>
<p>But she was so glad to see her daughter smile and laugh again that she <em>almost</em> forgave him for it.</p><hr/><ol>
<li><hr/></li>
</ol>
<p>“Your daughter is smoking.” she announced, letting herself into Tadius’ bedroom without knocking.</p>
<p>He looked nonplussed. Probably because he was already in bed with a book and a glass of scotch. “Which one?”</p>
<p>“Do you <em>truly </em>need to ask?” she sighed, shedding her dressing gown to slip in his bed. “I expect you to march her to your study first thing after breakfast and give her a stern talking to.”</p>
<p>Fifteen was far too young to be smoking.</p>
<p>Then again, Euphemia was probably only doing it <em>just</em> to annoy her, like everything else the girl did.</p>
<p>If she sent Tadius to fix the problem for her, it would deny the girl the attention she wanted and it would spare Elindra the headache.</p>
<p>“And what do I get in return?” he challenged, closing his book.</p>
<p>
  <em>Always the businessman…</em>
</p>
<p>She stole the glass from his hand and took a sip before slipping the nightgown over her head. “I apologize. Was it <em>not</em> obvious?”</p><hr/><ol>
<li><hr/></li>
</ol>
<p>Elindra Trinket was <em>not </em>happy.</p>
<p>She was not happy with her seventeen year-old daughter, she was not happy with Faun Harwyn – even if he currently was <em>the god of fashion </em>at whose altar the Capitol worshipped – and she was even less happy with Tadius for not supporting her more in this.</p>
<p>“This will end <em>badly</em>.” she insisted. “She is <em>naïve</em>.”</p>
<p>“You were happy to let Lyssa become a model when she was <em>sixteen</em>.” Tadius pointed out, taking off his cufflinks, clearly bored by the conversation.  </p>
<p>“It was different.” she snapped, pacing the room like she would not have done had there been anyone to see it, including their daughters. “Lyssa could become a <em>great</em> model.” Tadius didn’t point out she had been modeling for four years and had only secured contracts in small designer fashion houses when Effie had gone behind their backs and somehow secured herself a position in <em>Faun Harwyn</em>’s fashion house on her first runway. “It <em>is </em>different.” she insisted. “Did I tell you about Rufus Flavershym?”</p>
<p>“Did you <em>ever</em>?” Tadius muttered in a very ironical tone she didn’t condone. She shot him <em>a look</em>. He waved his hand. “What about Flavershym?”</p>
<p>“Well.” she huffed. “You can <em>bet </em>Lyssandra won’t insist on a pointless career in modeling once she secures him. She is too smart for that. She knows fame is fickle but a good marriage will last. Plus, she is half in love with him already. Now, take your youngest daughter…”</p>
<p>“Who is <em>always</em> somehow <em>my </em>daughter when you are displeased…” he pointed out, loosening his tie.</p>
<p>“She will be foolish enough to insist on favoring her so-called <em>career </em>above getting married, I <em>know</em> it.” she scowled. “And that would be all well and good if it would amount to anything but… She is less pretty than Lyssa ever was. If Lyssandra could not make it…”</p>
<p>“Elindra.” Tadius said firmly, bringing her pacing to a stop. “It is too late anyway. Effie outsmarted you by announcing the news everywhere, if we prevent it now we will look like tyrannical parents. It is <em>done</em>. All our friends know she will work as a model for Harwyn. Better to let her have her fun. She will grow bored and come back when she realizes it is actual <em>work</em>.”</p>
<p>“You underestimate her.” she countered, unhappily pouting. “But you <em>do</em> have a point. Harwyn has a reputation for being horrible to his models. It all look glamorous to her now but she won’t be singing the same song when he orders her to lose a few pounds. She might just come back and settle for the Crane boy…”</p>
<p>“The Crane boy very much prefers <em>boys</em>.” he remarked.</p>
<p>“What does that have to do with <em>marriage</em>?” she dismissed. “Head Gamemaker Crane would be <em>delighted </em>to have them married. They look so good together… He told me himself it would be a <em>perfect</em> match.”</p>
<p>And that Seneca had always been sniffing around her daughter, not always in ways she approved either. She was quite certain he had encouraged her rebellious ways. She even suspected he sneaked forbidden candies and cigarettes in the house.</p>
<p>“As perfect as ours?” Tadius deadpanned.</p>
<p>She chose not to answer.</p>
<p>It was obvious it would be a <em>better</em> match than Lyssa’s even. The Crane were, after all, as old a family as it got. Even the Flavershyms would be a lesser liaison if Euphemia ended up marrying the boy… She <em>would</em> have nudged Lyssa toward the Crane boy if she had thought it could take but… Even though he and Lyssandra were closer in age, Seneca had <em>always</em> favored Effie.</p>
<p>“Fine.” she relented. “I will allow her that modeling folly. I <em>do</em> hope you are right though.”</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, he was <em>not</em>.</p>
<p>Not only did Euphemia seem to <em>thrive </em>as a model but she started dating a photographer <em>en vogue </em>who was five years older than her – Elindra disapproved for various reason, amongst which his lack of family name and wealth, but the fact that a twenty-one year-old man was lusting after her seventeen year-old daughter was the preeminent one; not that Effie saw <em>any </em>of that, no, she just thought her parents were trying to make her life more difficult because, <em>obviously</em>, she was a victim in her own little scenario. She thought that Stelan was her great love story, that he would marry her eventually… Elindra saw where this was going long before he publicly cheated on her with everything that moved and left the girl heart-broken – not that Effie heeded her warnings.</p>
<p>They missed her first fashion show because it was scheduled on the same day as Lyssa’s engagement party and Elindra was so vexed by her daughter’s attitude she did not want to go to the trouble of rescheduling.</p>
<p>Let her have her tantrum.</p>
<p>She would have the joy of supporting the one daughter who didn’t constantly delighted in irking her.</p><hr/>
<p>11</p><hr/>
<p>On her eighteenth birthday, Euphemia left their house without a bye-your-leave, the ungrateful little thing.</p>
<p>Tadius wasn’t as mad because, apparently, their daughter had not only asked his opinion on real estate versus various investments but had also asked him to help her manage all the money she had made as a model before her majority and that she hadn’t yet been able to access.</p>
<p>Effie was popular enough and Harwyn had made her his muse, which meant she would probably be the <em>It Girl</em> for a few more months.</p>
<p>Still, she doubted Effie had made enough so far to afford the apartment the girl bought in one of the wealthiest parts of town. She <em>strongly</em> suspected Tadius had paid a part of it with their own money.</p>
<p>He never consented to confess.</p>
<p>All she got out of him was that he had been surprised to find their daughter had a sounder head on her shoulders than he had believed.</p>
<p>So she could do simple math and manage her money, Elindra fumed, that didn’t mean she was equipped to swim with the sharks out there.</p><hr/>
<p>12</p><hr/>
<p>When she was twenty-two, with her modeling career slowed down by the onslaught of prettier younger girls on the market and, Elindra suspected, with the support of one <em>very</em> annoying Seneca Crane, Euphemia declared she was going to become an escort.</p>
<p>Elindra ranted, scolded, cajoled and downright begged but the girl refused to listen to her when she said it was a terrible idea – not least of all because it would mean the Trinkets would no longer be allowed to sponsor and that would be a strike on their social status. Effie sat there, on their pristine couch, gracefully holding a cup of tea, her eyes staring straight ahead like always when she was tuning her out, thinking she was being <em>subtle </em>about it too…</p>
<p>She was so furious she fetched Tadius from his study and made him <em>forbid</em> it.</p>
<p>Tadius, after being informed what it was he was supposed to forbid, made a small face. “It is a <em>terrible</em> idea, Euphemia. You are too soft-hearted.”</p>
<p>“I fail to see what that has to do with anything.” Effie huffed.</p>
<p><em>The dead children</em>, Elindra realized belatedly because, truly, District children had never been her priority – dead or alive. But, of course, Tadius was right. Effie would not live that part well. All the more so given what they had been told a few years ago and <em>she</em> did her best to forget – because, terrible as it was, upper class Capitol mothers didn’t want to enter their sons in a marriage where a woman might have troubles conceiving a heir to the family name and Elindra was determined to marry her <em>well</em>. Lyssa was <em>thriving</em> in her marriage and <em>she </em>had arranged it behind the scenes, not that her daughter or her husband was aware.</p>
<p>“I simply came to inform you.” Their daughter pouted. “How <em>idiotic</em> of me to think you might be excited by my big news.”</p>
<p>“Do not be cheeky.” Elindra chided. “Ladies do not do sarcasm.”</p>
<p>Whatever she wanted to retort, Euphemia swallowed it back. She had her stubborn face on.</p>
<p>Tadius must have realized at the same time she did that there would be no reaching her because he sighed. “Do you know which District you are representing? Will it be one we will be proud to endorse even if we cannot sponsor anymore, at least?”</p>
<p>If this was to happen, Elindra mused, One and Two might be acceptable. Four, perhaps. Three did alright for themselves some years. It wouldn’t be too…</p>
<p>“Twelve!” Effie said cheerfully. “But it is <em>only</em> temporary. Head Gamemaker Torello <em>promised</em> me I would get promoted soon. And, see, Viola Summercket was appointed there <em>last year</em> and she is <em>already</em> moving on to Eleven so…”</p>
<p><em>So</em>.</p>
<p>Elindra gritted her teeth.</p><hr/>
<p>13</p><hr/>
<p>Not only was Euphemia <em>not</em> promoted but she <em>also</em> refused to <em>quit</em>.</p>
<p>For years, she <em>refused</em> to quit.</p>
<p>While Lyssandra did everything right, Euphemia insisted on doing everything wrong.</p>
<p>More than that, once or twice, Elindra caught her saying things that were… Perhaps not <em>anti-Capitol </em>but certainly not <em>Games friendly</em>.</p>
<p>That, more than anything, made her worry.</p>
<p>Then, there were the <em>rumors</em>.</p>
<p>Elindra dismissed them, at first, because even if Effie was stupid enough to have an affair with her victor, surely she was not stupid enough to hope it would ever be more than sex. Besides, Euphemia dated. Not always who Elindra wanted her to but she <em>did</em> date and <em>respectable</em> people at that.</p>
<p>There were men and women over the years, Seneca regularly in between – or so they claimed…</p>
<p>Lys Verdi was not the most respectable of the lot but she was wealthy and while Elindra would have preferred a more <em>traditional</em> marriage, since the upper class tended to favor those, she would have settled for that young woman if Effie had been willing. Unlike Oresto Crane, she was glad to compromise as long as her daughter gave up on that foolish escort business and <em>settled</em> <em>down</em>. Euphemia brought Lys to dinner a few times, she brought her to brunch, they were <em>living together</em>… Elindra <em>dared</em> hope.</p>
<p>But the next Games rolled around and Effie’s very public relationship with Lys came to an abrupt halt without much explanations.</p>
<p>The rumors persisted, mostly a joke that had become a permanent feature of the Games.</p>
<p>Effie Trinket and the drunk Quell victor, quarrelling like an old married couple.  </p>
<p>Years of that joke.</p>
<p>Their daughter was very, very skilled at avoiding them at official Games parties but Elindra saw them from afar once or twice and she didn’t like what she saw.</p>
<p>“She is in love with the oaf.” she told Tadius.</p>
<p>Tadius took a bored peek at Twelve’s team standing on the other side of the huge room and his expression darkened a little. It was obvious why. Effie had her lips pursed and her fists on her hips like she always used to do when she was little and particularly displeased; whatever she was saying, her victor laughed it off and then steered her toward the dance floor, replacing her hands by his own on her hips. And once they were there, they danced in a way that was <em>barely </em>proper, all the while arguing in a way that looked more like <em>banter</em> than true <em>disagreement</em>.</p>
<p>“You need to find her better prospects.” he growled.</p>
<p>Because one thing was for sure watching the two of them together, given the way they were touching… They didn’t touch like colleagues did. Or even friends. They touched each other like she could <em>vaguely </em>remember once touching Tadius, how he used to touch <em>her</em>.</p>
<p>It was proprietary, confident, <em>intimate. </em></p>
<p>Those rumors.</p>
<p>They were right.</p><hr/><ol>
<li><hr/></li>
</ol>
<p>There were engagements.</p>
<p>Three of them.</p>
<p>Elindra rejoiced only to have to face the music later on when Effie broke them off.</p>
<p><em>Three of them</em>.</p>
<p>She was furious each time but she preferred that to the years that followed the last one. Because the year of the Seventieth Hunger Games, the year her second grandson – named Timotheo as a tribute to her own father, to Effie’s inexplicable anger since it wasn’t like she had a monopoly on the name and Lyssa had loved him too – was born, the only person Euphemia consented to date with any sort of regularity was Seneca Crane. And that was on and off. And so clearly for show nobody really bought it even if she dragged him to family dinners and brunches.  </p>
<p>There was <em>no </em>talking to her about her victor.</p>
<p>There was <em>no </em>convincing her to give the nice wealthy men she and her sister found for her a chance.</p>
<p>And, then, of course, Katniss Everdeen volunteered.</p><hr/>
<p>15</p><hr/>
<p>After so many years of having to endure disguised gibes about her daughter being Twelve’s escort, having Twelve winning should have made Elindra ecstatic.</p>
<p>It <em>didn’t</em>.</p>
<p>First, because she could remember, with clear certainty, all those times during her childhood where her father had told her, every time the Games season started, that one day the Capitol would come to rue the day they made the Hunger Games a thing. She wasn’t quite sure <em>why </em>she couldn’t stop thinking about that but she <em>did</em>.</p>
<p>Then, because Effie was <em>disproportionally</em> enthralled by those two winning urchins. Listening to her, she almost considered them <em>family</em>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, of course, Seneca Crane committed suicide and, since everyone in a certain social circle knew better than to believe he had <em>actually </em>slipped a noose around his neck, she really started to worry.</p>
<p>Tadius removed his ‘special’ collection of books from the study. She didn’t ask where he put them. She had warned him time and time again that this hobby of collecting forbidden volumes was dangerous.</p>
<p>She was a bit sad about the Crane boy but didn’t dare extend her sympathies to Orello and his wife – not that Seneca’s mother even knew her son was dead, she hadn’t come down from her high in at least two years – it would have sent the wrong message. Still, she was a bit sad and she hadn’t been <em>that</em> close to the boy, so she thought Effie must have been <em>devastated</em>.</p>
<p>Her daughter downplayed it though, whatever grief she was feeling she hid it. She denied any particular relationship with Seneca as if there wasn’t tones of accounts of their <em>dating</em>. Listening to her, you would think she <em>barely </em>knew Seneca Crane, that they were mere childhood friends who had sometimes interacted as colleagues.</p>
<p>And that was good.</p>
<p>That was the clever thing to do.</p>
<p>Elindra was just surprised Effie <em>knew</em> that.</p>
<p>Lyssa was entirely clueless about the whole thing. </p>
<p>Elindra tried to warn Euphemia she should take her distances from Twelve before the Tour but… There was no getting to that girl. Effie got her stubborn expression on and Elindra just <em>knew </em>that, to be contrary, she would follow her Twelve’s rascals over hot coal and straight into the fire.</p><hr/><ol>
<li><hr/></li>
</ol>
<p>The Quell announcement was a disaster of epic proportions.</p>
<p>She was hosting a party, she had her daughters and a few Gamemakers in attendance as well as a few potential husbands for Effie should she <em>deign </em>look… Euphemia was nervous about the announcement, Elindra was nervous about the party, Lyssa was nervous because her mother and her sister kept clashing…</p>
<p>Nobody had really expected the announcement that the tributes would be selected from the pool of existing victors.</p>
<p>There was a hush in the room before everyone started talking at one.</p>
<p>Elindra’s gaze <em>snapped </em>to her daughter – as did Lyssa’s for that matter. Effie had a bright smile on her lips and she nodded and answered cheerfully to everyone who talked to her but she was also edging out of the room, too pale under the make-up.</p>
<p>Elindra caught Tadius’ eyes across the room and he quickly distracted everyone by offering another round of drinks while she slipped out after her daughter.</p>
<p>She caught the bathroom door before Euphemia could lock it and her daughter didn’t fight her because she barely had time to make it to the toilet before throwing up. </p>
<p> She wrinkled her nose, wondering if the girl was too old for her to call the nanny. She had <em>never </em>dealt with sick children by herself. That was what help was for.</p>
<p>“I <em>do </em>hope you are not pregnant.”</p>
<p>Because that would be <em>just</em> like that drunkard to defy the odds and get her pregnant when he was most likely than not about to die, to leave them with a District bastard to take care of.</p>
<p>Effie shook her head but then she started sobbing her heart out.</p>
<p>Elindra pursed her lips harder, flushed the toilet because the smell was terrible, fetched a towel from the cabinet and dampened it with water before forcefully cleaning her daughter’s mouth. It smudged her lipstick instead.</p>
<p>“Be quiet.” she hushed. “They will hear you. And what do you <em>think</em> they will believe? Do you want to end up like the Crane boy?”</p>
<p>It didn’t matter that Seneca had been almost forty when he had died. He would always be <em>the Crane boy </em>to her. She had seen him a week after he was born. He had been a <em>child</em> to her. They were all children. Lyssa… Effie…</p>
<p>Effie seemed shocked.</p>
<p>Hadn’t she realized Elindra had figured out he hadn’t <em>really </em>hung himself?</p>
<p><em>Truly</em>.</p>
<p>Did that girl think she was <em>utterly</em> stupid?</p>
<p>You did not get where she was now by being stupid.</p>
<p>“Fix your make-up.” she ordered. “Then come back out, toast President Snow, laugh and flirt. <em>Be</em> <em>natural</em>.”</p>
<p>She moved to walk out of the bathroom but Effie snorted bitterly. “There is only one person with whom I am <em>natural</em>.”</p>
<p>Elindra bit her tongue not to answer and closed the door behind her.</p>
<p>This was that photographer all over again. <em>A tantrum</em>. A case of her clinging to that idealized idea of a man just because it was forbidden and her parents disapproved.</p>
<p>Except this time it could also be <em>deadly</em>.</p>
<p>“Is she alright?” Lyssa asked her as soon as she came back to the living-room.</p>
<p>“Go help her with her make-up.” she demanded. “Comfort her if you can.”</p>
<p>“She has not confided in me since we were children, Mother.” Lyssandra reminded her, a little bitterly.</p>
<p>Because Effie was <em>jealous </em>of Lyssa.</p>
<p>Because she was a stubborn willful idiot sometimes.  </p>
<p>Elindra shook her head. “You are such a good girl, my dear. If only your sister would follow your example…”</p><hr/>
<p>17</p><hr/>
<p>Elindra watched the arena explode from her living-room.</p>
<p>Tadius was standing behind the couch and his hands fell on her shoulders when the screen turned black.</p>
<p>Neither of them voiced their concerns.</p>
<p>They didn’t need to.</p><hr/>
<p>18.</p><hr/>
<p>Propaganda was everywhere: pro-Capitol, anti-rebels…</p>
<p><em>The war</em> was everywhere.</p>
<p>And nobody could tell them where their youngest daughter was.</p>
<p>They had contacted the Training Center <em>repeatedly</em>. They had been told their daughter was missing but no Peacekeepers station would take their case.</p>
<p>“Do you think she left with that drunk?” she asked Tadius one night.</p>
<p>They were sharing a room again, like in the early days of their marriage and that, perhaps, attested that the world was about to end more than anything else. Weeks without news, weeks with the District terrorists edging closer and closer to the city…</p>
<p>She had never thought she would see ration cards outside of a museum in her lifetime.</p>
<p>His hand slipped into hers. They weren’t sleeping. They were lying on their backs, staring at the ceiling and wondering how they were going to keep their family <em>safe</em>. Rufus, Lyssa and the boys had moved in a couple of week back. Lyssa was running herself frayed rushing from her own house to theirs, worried they might need something, treating them like they were <em>old </em>all of a sudden… Privately, Rufus had told Tadius it would be better for them to stay at the Trinkets because their cellar was deeper and that it might become necessary to have a good bomb shelter on hand at some point.</p>
<p>A bomb shelter.</p>
<p>Imagine <em>that</em>.</p>
<p>“I think if she was with that Mockingjay, they would have interrogated us.” he sighed because it was not the first time they had that conversation. It seemed it was all they did sometimes. Talk about Euphemia. Wonder where she was. If she was well. If…</p>
<p>More and more lately, Elindra’s mind kept flashing back to that moment she had been left alone with her baby in the surrogates agency’s hospital. Effie had been so fragile. So small. She had been so unsure of how to love that tiny thing… But loved her she <em>did</em>. </p>
<p>“Do you think she is dead?” she asked next. That was how that conversation always went.</p>
<p>Elindra had never liked burying her head in the sand.</p>
<p>She believed in facing the music. And the music told her that if her daughter was not with the rebels, if her daughter had disappeared somewhere in the Capitol’s bowels… Her odds were <em>not</em> good.</p>
<p>“I do not know.” Tadius whispered.</p>
<p>“She betrayed us.” she snapped. “She chose <em>them</em>. Those District rats… She…”</p>
<p>“She <em>loves</em> them.” he cut her off quietly. “You know she does.”</p>
<p>“They are <em>barely </em>human.” she spat. “And <em>that drunk</em>…”</p>
<p>“You don’t really believe that party line.” he countered tiredly. “As for Abernathy…”</p>
<p>“<em>We</em> are her family.” she argued. “If the Capitol thinks she is a traitor… It puts us all in danger. And it is bad enough that she would not think about her parents or her sisters but her own <em>nephews</em>?”</p>
<p>“I do not know, Lin…” he sighed again, rubbing his face with his free hand. “I <em>really</em> do not know…”</p><hr/>
<p>19.</p><hr/>
<p>They survived the war.</p>
<p>Barely.</p>
<p>The streets were chaos and they didn’t dare step out of the house.</p>
<p>When a squad of rebel soldiers showed up on their street and someone hammered on their door, Elindra grabbed Tadius’ arm and snapped at Lyssa to go hide with the children, certain as she was that they were about to be murdered for their possessions or for the fun of it.</p>
<p>Tadius went to answer the door because their butler and the maids had run away long ago, before the bombs started raining down on the city, and she went with him because… <em>Well</em>… She might as well try and give Lyssa some time to flee if necessary…</p>
<p>There was only one soldier in a grey uniform at the door though, and he almost looked bored. He muttered a greeting and handed her a letter before turning around, climbing back in the truck and driving away.</p>
<p>It was entirely <em>surreal</em>.</p>
<p>Her hands were shaking so much she struggled to unseal the envelope.</p>
<p>The letter was brief and to the point even though the handwriting was so <em>atrocious </em>she had troubles deciphering it.</p>
<p>“She is alive and would like to see us.” she told her husband. The relief was so potent her legs gave in for a second and he had to steady her. “She was badly injured and cannot write herself.” she continued reading. “She is at the VIP hospital at the Presidential Mansion… We have to give <em>that drunk</em>’s name to the guards up front, he says he made arrangements. <em>The nerve!</em>” She glared at Twelve’s victor scratchy name at the bottom of the letter, relief turning into anger. “She is <em>summoning</em> us. She is summoning us through her victor! Tossing his influence in our face! <em>Well</em>! If we have any doubt she was with those rebels <em>scum</em>…”</p>
<p>“If she is injured, she can <em>hardly</em> come to us.” Tadius pointed out, snatching the letter away to have a look. “<em>Atrocious</em> penmanship.”</p>
<p>“What do you expect of a District oaf?” she deadpanned. “Well… Well… <em>Well, I will not go</em>!” She huffed. “It has been <em>days </em>since the rebels took the city and <em>now </em>she remembers we exist? <em>Now</em> she gives us news? Oh, I am <em>furious </em>with her.”</p>
<p>“You are furious with her but you also missed her.” he pointed out. “And we were so worried…”</p>
<p>“Yes, but that was <em>before</em> I knew for sure on which side she was!” she countered. Not that it really mattered. It was not the problem. The problem was… “The drunk knew where she was, <em>how</em> she was, before <em>we</em> did. She made her choice clear. She chose him. I <em>cannot</em> tolerate it.”</p>
<p>“Do what you wish. I want to see my daughter.” he snapped.</p>
<p>“I <em>forbid</em> you to go!” she hissed. “We would only be playing her game!”</p>
<p>It was almost comical when the next rebel squadron came up to the house because, as afraid as they had been before, neither of them reacted aside from glaring at them. Elindra wasn’t sure what she expected. Another letter?</p>
<p>But it wasn’t another letter.</p>
<p>It was <em>exactly</em> what they had feared.</p>
<p>The rebels pushed their way inside, punching Tadius when he tried to intervene, and dragged Rufus out, kicking and screaming, in front of the bawling children. Lyssa refused to let him go. She clung to him, hit the rebels with her fists…</p>
<p>Elindra was so scared she would get killed that she abandoned the boys to wrap her arms around her daughter and <em>forcefully</em> drag her back toward the house.</p>
<p>The worst thing was that, the whole time, she felt the neighbors staring at them from behind their closed curtains.</p><hr/>
<p>20</p><hr/>
<p>No lawyer would take Rufus’ case.</p>
<p>No one would listen to their explanations that it was a mistake because Rufus Flavershym had been a Gamemaker for two years a decade earlier but, <em>surely</em>, that didn’t count?</p><hr/>
<p>21</p><hr/>
<p>Elindra found herself in Effie’s hospital room under the very thin excuse – although very <em>real</em> one – to use her connections to help get Rufus freed. She had <em>promised</em> Lyssandra she would make everything alright before leaving and she had promised Tadius it would be better for her to go by herself, that he could visit the next day once she had secured Rufus’ pardon, because the last thing they wanted was to make Euphemia feel like she was being cornered by her family.</p>
<p>The letter had said <em>badly injured </em>but that wasn’t what she found in that room.</p>
<p>What she found in that room scared her to death.</p>
<p>Effie was so thin, so frail that she barely recognized her. The dark bags under her eyes, the sunken cheeks, the vacant gaze, the limp slightly dirty hair, the sling that kept her arm strapped to her almost inexistent chest, the vivid reddish scars that poked out from under the hospital gown, the faded bruises…</p>
<p>Her daughter looked like she had gone through <em>hell</em>.</p>
<p>And <em>it</em> <em>scared her to death</em>.</p>
<p>The impulse to rush to her side and gather her close, like she had done when she was a baby, came and went because she was not that sort of mother and because Haymitch Abernathy sat right there in the visitor chair, scowling a terrifying glare, giving no hint that he would do the proper thing and leave them in peace.</p>
<p>Not that he could have anyway.</p>
<p>Euphemia was clinging to his hand like a frightened child.</p>
<p>She did smile at her though, a bit cagey but happy enough. “Mother…”</p>
<p>It broke her heart to hear her joyful child speak with such… <em>weariness</em>.  </p>
<p>It broke her heart but she did not <em>quite</em> know how to express it so she did the only thing she knew how to do: she fussed. And she did that by listing <em>exactly</em> all that was wrong with her, starting with the fact she needed make-up and finishing with how <em>cruel</em> she had been to leave them without news for so long.</p>
<p>Abernathy was fuming long before she fell silent but her daughter’s broken torn nails were digging in his flesh and thus he held his tongue.</p>
<p>At least he was well-trained, she figured.</p>
<p>She started explaining the situation with Rufus and asking for Effie’s help in resolving the problem as quickly as possible, all the while very aware that, as much as she was ignoring him, it would be the victor who would see to all that. Better not to aggravate him too much.</p>
<p>He scoffed before she was even through. “That’s not happening. Save your breath.”</p>
<p>She gritted her teeth and kept pleading with Effie, kept appealing to her sisterly side in hope she would convince her victor that…</p>
<p>“You do not understand…” Euphemia insisted, out of breath. Why was she out of breath all the time? “We are not even sure they are not going to drag <em>me </em>on trial.”</p>
<p>“Not happening.” Abernathy said again, but more softly this time.  </p>
<p>“Do you expect me to <em>believe</em> those rebels would murder you when your… your…” She couldn’t say it, her lips pulled back in disgust. Neither of them was quick to supply her with an adequate term anyway. “…<em>lover</em>…” she spat at last. “… is <em>heralded</em> everywhere as some sort of rebel <em>hero</em>? <em>Please</em>. Say you will not help your sister but do <em>not</em> lie.”</p>
<p>It <em>had </em>to be a lie.</p>
<p>Because as hard as it would be to watch Rufus be put down like a dog on live TV, there was <em>no way </em>she would let the same thing happen to her own daughter without burning this city, and maybe the whole country, to the ground.</p>
<p>“I don’t…” Effie protested tiredly.</p>
<p>Her victor growled. “Look, that’s the way it is. It’s a <em>fucked</em> up situation and… I’m sorry for the kids but even if I could help… He’s a creepy asshole and he deserves what he gets. I’m not gonna die on <em>that </em>hill. And it’s not <em>Effie</em>’s fault if the guy chose to go play Gamemaker just so he could sample…”</p>
<p>“Haymitch.” Euphemia snapped.</p>
<p>Elindra was not sure what it was Rufus was supposed to have sampled and she was fairly certain she didn’t <em>not</em> want to know.</p>
<p>She pursed her lips tight in disgust, glancing at Effie when she wasn’t glaring at him. “<em>This </em>is why you would betray us? <em>Your own family</em>? For this man who won’t even help your brother-in-law? You <em>honestly </em>think this is the smart choice? That you have a <em>future</em> with him?”</p>
<p>Euphemia looked even more tired all of a sudden. “Please, Mother, not today… Do not make me choose because you will not like my answer.”</p>
<p>“<em>Clearly</em>.” Elindra huffed and then stormed out because… What else was there to do?</p>
<p> She went home and told Lyssandra that her husband would die because her sister’s lover did not want to waste his energy on him.</p><hr/>
<p>22</p><hr/>
<p>Lyssa was furious with Effie.</p>
<p>“Perhaps if I talked to them?” Tadius suggested later that night, after they had forced a sedative on  their daughter and had made sure the children were fed and in bed. She needed to hire new maids. And a nanny. And another butler. She was tired of them having to do everything themselves.</p>
<p>They were so exhausted that Tadius had broken out the good port and they had been drinking steadily for half an hour.</p>
<p>“You will get nothing from that man.” she spat. “He is a vile, <em>vile</em> man.”</p>
<p>Euphemia deserved <em>so much</em> better.</p>
<p>She had been born to rule the upper class along with her sister and now… Now <em>what</em>? Everything had <em>crumbled</em>. All of Elindra’s patient maneuvering, all her plans, all her hopes…</p>
<p>“How was she?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Poorly.” she admitted. “She looked…” She shook her head. “I would have brought her home had I thought she would allow it. Well… <em>Before</em> she refused to help, that is. Can you believe <em>that drunk</em> stood there and insulted Rufus as if he had the higher ground and she said <em>nothing</em>? As if she <em>agreed</em> with him… I know she has <em>always</em> been jealous of her sister’s marriage and I am <em>also</em> aware she is not the biggest fan of Rufus in particular but…” It still sounded absolutely grotesque that Effie would allow any of this to happen. “She is under his spell. <em>Utterly</em> under his spell…”</p>
<p>“Lyssa will need us.” Tadius commented, pouring himself another glass. “It is best if she and the boys stay here for the time being. And… Things being what they are… I do not think it is in either of their best interest for the girls to meet right now. If Euphemia shows up…”</p>
<p>“If Euphemia shows up, she will have <em>a lot</em> of groveling to do before I let her come in.” she grumbled.</p><hr/>
<p>23</p><hr/>
<p>Euphemia did <em>not</em> show up.</p>
<p>For weeks, Tadius struggled to save the business while she struggled to build back their social circle and they both struggled to keep their other daughter from dying from grief.</p>
<p>Both the new President and the old one died the same day.</p>
<p>Another one was elected.</p>
<p>Still, there was no news from Effie.</p>
<p>Her ‘friends’ were only too happy to report the latest rumors, of course. Euphemia was back at her apartment, Haymitch Abernathy was living with her…</p>
<p>Then, the Mockingjay’s trial happened and it was public knowledge that Abernathy had left for Twelve with the disturbed girl that had launched a revolution.</p>
<p>Elindra waited, then, but nothing happened.</p>
<p>No phone calls, no letters…</p>
<p>Lyssa and the boys demanded a lot of energy, she stopped waiting for Effie to move on from her tantrum.</p><hr/>
<p>24</p><hr/>
<p>A year without news and, one afternoon, someone hammered at the door and, there she was finally, looking like a drown rat, sobbing, making a complete spectacle of herself for all the neighbors to see…</p>
<p>Elindra was not sure what the girl expected or why she was dragging a suitcase around. Euphemia had made her wait and thus she wanted to make her daughter pay for that. When Effie said she had nowhere else to go, she told her she should have thought about that before and slammed the door in her face, knowing that she would come back and try again.</p>
<p><em>Then,</em> Elindra would cave and take her in. The lesson would be learned and they could all move on to better things.</p>
<p>An hour.</p>
<p>Two tops, she told herself.</p>
<p>But Effie didn’t come back.</p>
<p>And she started to worry because her daughter <em>truly</em> had not looked good. She knew her apartment had been seized months earlier and that, the press was always too happy to report, she was struggling, but…</p>
<p>“You should not have sent her away!” Tadius raged when he came home and she told him. “She has debts <em>everywhere</em>. She cannot find a job and when she does find one she cannot <em>keep</em> it. People are saying she is <em>mentally</em> <em>unstable, </em>Elindra! She took loans using my name as guarantee and I allowed it, I paid them off when they became too annoying. I knew she would figure out that meant she could come home when she wanted… And you <em>had</em> to go and…”</p>
<p>“I thought she would be back within the day!” she snapped. “The important part now is to figure out where she is.”</p>
<p>And what they would do once they found her because Lyssandra wouldn’t  take kindly to sharing a roof with someone she blamed for her husband’s death. And if there <em>was </em>something wrong with her head…</p>
<p>They called the hospitals and, when that didn’t tell them anything, she placed a call to Plutarch Heavensbee who was only too happy to cheerfully tell them that he had seen Effie just that afternoon, that, <em>no</em>, she was not in fact <em>crazy</em>, and that he had loaned her money for a train ticket so that she was likely almost in Twelve by then.</p>
<p>In Twelve.</p>
<p>Tadius glared at her for three days.</p>
<p>“She will be back.” she told him every time he glared too hard. “Can you see <em>our daughter</em> in Twelve?”</p><hr/><ol>
<li><hr/></li>
</ol>
<p>Effie never came back.</p>
<p>But she wrote.</p>
<p>Elindra refused to answer the letters on principle.</p>
<p>She had <em>painfully</em> rose in society, had fought to forget her crude ancestry and for what? For her daughter to go raise geese in a District worse than Two, with a drunk who probably hit her and treated her like a slave?</p>
<p>She couldn’t <em>accept </em>it.</p>
<p>She didn’t understand where she had gone wrong.</p>
<p>She didn’t understand at all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you got all the way here... CONGRATS! haha. I hope you enjoyed this story! I know not a lot of people will be interested because it's not pure hayffie but it was fun to write about one of my OCs in more depths. If you read everything, please let me know your thoughts!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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